Building A Simple Knife Block

The other day I was at my mother-in-laws house for dinner and she asked me if I could make something for her. I already had several irons in the fire but what was one more.

Before I even knew what it was, I told her “yes” so I was committed to the project, large or small.

She walked over to her kitchen counter and picked up a small knife block and set it on the dining room table in front of me. I looked at it and said, “Is that it?” I was shocked and relieved that I had just been asked to do one of the simplest woodworking projects I had ever seen. She told me she wanted some more to set out on the tables during large family gatherings and parties.

That evening I took her store bought version with me as a sample, even though it was not really necessary.

The next day, I gathered up some wood scraps and cut offs I had sitting around the woodshop and immediately went to work.

The cores of the Knife Blocks are 2” wide, 5” long and 2” thick. I put a full kerf blade in my table saw and set the height of the blade and my fence to the spacing I desired. After a few passes through the table saw, I had 6 slots for the knives. I cut two 1/4” side panels for each block and glued them in place.

After a little sanding and finishing the Knife Blocks were complete. The setup process was so quick and easy; I made about 20 Knife Blocks and plan to pass them out to the rest of the family.

So, if you are looking for a simple project to make your mother-in -law happy, make her a Knife Block for her knives.

Just remember not to start making jokes when she’s putting the knives in it!